Peyton Manning Serving As Honorary Pace Car Driver For DAYTONA 500

The Daytona International Speedway today announced that former great Colts quarterback Peyton Manning will serve as the honorary pace car driver for the 60th annual DAYTONA 500 on Feb. 18.

Peyton Manning was known to set the pace with his no-huddle offense back in his days leading the Indianapolis Colts’ offense.

And now, the legendary quarterback will quite literally be setting the pace — at one of the world’s premier racing events.

Daytona International Speedway has announced that Manning will serve as its honorary pace car driver for the 60th annual DAYTONA 500, which is being held on Sunday.

“Serving as the Honorary Pace Car Driver will be a truly unique and exciting experience,” Manning said in a press release. “I want to thank NASCAR, Daytona International Speedway and Nationwide for making this possible. I’m really looking forward to race day.”

Manning will be driving a Toyota Camry XSE to pace the 40-car field prior to the waving of the green flag at the famed track.

“We’re talking true star power with this announcement, as Peyton Manning is one of the legends of both college football and the NFL,” Daytona International Speedway President Chip Wile said. “He also has the persona and popularity to match his achievements. He’ll be an awesome Honorary Pace Car Driver and a great addition to our lineup of high-profile guests for the 60th DAYTONA 500.”

Manning is no stranger to the racing scene, having spent most of his professional career in Indianapolis, the racing capital of the world. In 2007, he waved the green flag to start the 91st Indy 500, and also served as the 500 Festival Parade grand marshal.

In 2016, a few months after he announced his retirement from the NFL, Manning spent some time with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his crew at Bristol Motor Speedway:

“I was glad he was here,” said Earnhardt Jr., who has also since retired from racing. “I’m very curious as to what he thought about our sport, because he’s been to Indy a couple times to the Indy 500. But this is a real unique race track. And when we went around the track for intros he was pretty surprised; he couldn’t believe the banking and all that. I tried to explain it to him, but you really can’t until you come here to see it.”

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